it's considered by some a peculiar interpretation of copyright law. the librarian of congress, james billington, determined that "locking cell phones is an essential part of the wireless industry's dominant business model." it prevents us from legally buying one cellphone at a subsidized rate through a carrier and even after the service contract expires taking that phone to another carrier for use later. michael hodel tracks carriers for the financial data firm morningstar. "this is a situation where a technicality has been used to do something it was never intended to do." the obama adminstration says copyright law was never intended to be this restrictive. it's asked the fcc, commerce department and others to look into changing the law. if that happens, some predict the price of cellphones and smartphones may rise quickly. "it is no secret that consumers will pay more for phones, because the carrier isn't going to absorb the cost. they'll front-load the contracts so you'll pay more up-front and the value of the phone will die at the end of two years